A Yorkshire-based television company is to launch a 24-hour channel devoted to
minority sports, after the London Olympics sparked a surge in interest in
games like handball.

London Legacy will make its debut in around three months, showing 24 Olympic sports that “just don’t get enough sports coverage” on the major channels.

John Fairley, chairman of Highflyer Group, the company behind the new channel, said the combination of a fall in production costs and an increase in interest in niche sports meant there was an “enormous opportunity” to make money from televising them.

“The amount on athletics on the main channels has been very small, especially when you think of all the disciplines within athletics, but the Games has changed all that,” he said. “We have had two or three companies, including one Olympic sponsor, make very serious undertakings [to back the channel] in the last week. The Games have changed all that."

London Legacy will focus heavily on athletics, gymnastics and judo, but handball, fencing, track cycling and wrestling will also receive substantial airtime. Coverage of championships will be mixed with programmes offering “masterclasses” or showing viewers how they can get involved.

“The number of participants in these sports is already very high - a sport like judo has more than 40,000 [in the UK], many of them women and many of those under 16. There is this enormous opportunity...and no sign that any of the main broadcasters is going to pick it up and run with it,” Mr Fairely said.

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The channel will initially launch on Sky and is also expected to air on other platforms in the future. The launch will cost £5.5m.

The London Olympic Games was the most watched sporting event in Britain on record, according to BBC figures. More than 50m people in Britain, nearly 90pc of the total population, watched at least 15 minutes of coverage over the two-week period. The Opening and Closing Ceremonies drew the biggest audiences, closely followed by Usain Bolt’s victory in the 100m final.

However, lower profile events also attracted substantial audiences.

More than 24m people watched the Games using the BBC’s red button service, which enabled viewers to choose from 24 events not being shown on the main channels, by pressing a button on their remote controls. Less well-known sports such as judo and gymnastics were often annexed in this way.

Separately, Channel 4 said demand for its advertising slots during the Paralympic Games was ahead of expectations and that those around the Paralympic Opening Ceremony were “sold out”.

The broadcaster, which paid around £5m for the exclusive rights to air the games, saw revenues for its flagship channel fall by £19.5m to £622.1m last year as its share of the advertising market shrank. Overall revenues for thegroup rose from £935.2m to £941.4m.